Traditional teaching method of pathology laboratory course during the preclinical year
has been one of the major concerns by its less active student participation,
overemphasis of morphological details with little opportunity on clinical correlation and
poor integration with lecture in most of undergraduate programs,'furthermore, increased
number of student enrollment and shortage of faculty have accelerated the reduction of
existing limited efficiency by means of achieving the course objectives.
The author introduced an easily accessible format by application of case-oriented
small group teaching method based on the policy of no additional curricular revision or
crucial modification of present didactic pathology instruction.
Carefully selected cases of 5 to 6 with clinical summary and well controlled
fluestionnaires were supplied with microslide sets for small group discussion, arid each
student group was assigned to answer a series of questions on the case at the whole
class plenary session. Development of appropriate questionnaires was crucially critical to
determine the group activity so that the best answers should be possible only after
careful observation of microslides and with close referring to available handout or
textbook in the areas not only of morphological alterations but also on etiology,
pathogenesis, correlation with clinical features and interpretation of laboratory data.
Plenary discussion was scheduled at the end of each course, during which faculty's
comment on the cages with Kodachrome transparency (of microphotography) was
supplemented.
Immediate feedback on two occasions of experiment supported the active student
interaction in learding process, and enhanced the synchronization of cognitive content in
lecture-laboratory courses along with confidence on self-directed learning. It also
stressed the necessity of further improvement in faculty's questioning and answering
skill The program was also less expensive, saves faculty time, and enabled to promote
the bridging effort between the basic and clinical sciences as expected.
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